Ironing board



Oct. 7 1924.

- H. c. ARMSTRONG IRONING BOARD Filed Sent. 12,1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 WITNESSES v A TTORA/EYS Patented Oct. 7, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IBONING BOARD.

Application filed September 12, 1922. Serial No. 587,771.

To all whom. it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY C. ARMSTRONG, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Ashland, in the county of Ashland and State of Wisconsin, have invented a new and Improved Ironing Board, of Which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to ironing board structures, and more particularly aims to provide a self-contained collapsible supporting structure for the ironing board and a complementary ironing board therefor, characterized by marked simplicity, economy of manufacture, lightness of weight, and ease and rapidity of manipulation to change the same from collapsed to extended or working condition and vice versa.

One of the principal objects of the invention is to provide such a structure which, when extended ready for use, is firmly and strongly established and of absolute rigidity, due in part to the provision of simple auxiliary members which in addition to giving rigidity to the structure serve a useful purpose during the ironing process, as hereinafter set forth.

A further object of the invention is to provide a structure, not only of the kind above described, but also one so designed that the complete structure is a floor-supported one at all times; adapted, on the other hand, for complete collapse into what may be termed a panel-like, or substantially flat and thin, upright wall member to rest or lean against a room wall of the laundry; and constructed and arranged, on the other hand, so as to present no difficulty whatsoever in collapsing or extending the supporting parts for directly carrying the ironing board on their tops.

ith such objects and others in view, the invention consists in the arrangement, relation and combination of parts below illustratively described, and particularly as claimed; and while, of course, the invention is not restricted to the precise details of construction disclosed or suggested herein, yet for the purpose of fully and clearly explaining the same, and by the illustrative description of a preferred embodiment thereof, reference is now had to the accompanying drawings.

In these drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same parts in the several views- Figure 1 is a perspective view, showing the complete structure in extended and locked condition ready for ironing;

Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of the ironing board;

Fig. 3 is a section on line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a transverse vertical section taken on the line 44 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a front elevation of the structure completely collapsed; and

Fig. 6 is a transverse vertical section taken on line 6-'6 of Fig. 5.

A pair of side-frames'or gates 7, here preferably of skeleton construction as shown, are hinged, as indicated at 8 in Fig. 5, to a back-frame or main member 9, adapted to be disposed at all times with its back flat against or close to a wall of the laundry. Thus the foot-portions 10 of the back-frame are adapted at all times to rest over fixed spots on the laundry floor. These foot-portions 10, together with foot-portions 11, one dependent from each of the side-frames 7 at points removed from the pivotal axes of the side-frame, constitute what may be termed four table legs, permit ting the structure, when fully extended as shown in Fig. 1, to rest squarely and solidly on the floor.

Back-frame 9, here :also preferably of skeleton construction, includes, as best shown in Figs. 1 and 4, a pair of end up rights 12 integral with foot-portions 10. These uprights preferably are tied together at three points, first, at their tops, by a horizontal rod 18, second, at their middles, by a horizontal slat l4, and third, near their bottoms, by a horizontal slat 15. The slats 14 and 15, as clearly shown in the drawings, are the parts of the back-frame 9 to which the side-frames 7 are hinged at 8 as above described.

While the provision of these slat-s l4- and 15 serves, in combination with the rod 13,to make the back-frame very rigid witha minimum of structural material, the pres ence of the slats at the points specified, and with each slat of less thickness than the width of an upright 9 as shown, also permits the hinging of the side-frames 7 to be so located, as will be noted particularly from Fig. 6, that on collapsing the sideframes, the latter will swing in parallel With the slats so that the outer faces'of-the side= frames lie flush with the front edges of the uprights 9.

The rod 13, in addition to acting as a rigidifying agent, serves the further useful purpose of providing an ideally located hanger over which may be folded or draped the ironed articles as 'they. are completedone by one.

An ironingboard 16 isadapted-ito'Brest directly and squarelyon lthe tops of side frames 7, as shown best in Flg11f6=l each sidefraine at/its-top carrying a projection 17, with which projections are'enga ged pair of recesses -18:1n theunderside of the aoard when the'board is set 'in'position'. The underside of the board may be further provided with longitudinal grooves -19 to minimize warping; The board is preferably tapered at one end" and this tapered end preferably overlies the side-frame to the left of Fig. 1 as shown,--and then tlie'side-frame last mentioned is preferably cutaway, as

indicated at 20, to providean unobstructed space around and below the front and back edges of the tapered-end of the board; to facilitate the ironing and handling of bel lied portions of articles being ironed.

The board-16 may carry a plurality of sets of recesses similar to therece'sses 18, for engaging the projection'sli on" side frames 7, and to permit'vari'ous adjustments of the board on'th'e side-frames; A single additional pair 'of'such. recesses for example, is shown at 21. Of course, the board may be made of a length exceeding the width of baclbframe 9' to an extent even greatertha'm ti-at indicated, if many pairs of" recesses snuilar to recesses 18 and 21arep'resent.

The side-frame '7 to the right of Figure 1 is further connected to the upper slat 14:

of back-frame 9, by means of a bracing means as indicated at 23, whichmaycon veniently consist, as indicated,of a snaplink quick-collapsible brace of the'fainiliar It Wlll be seen that the'presence'of such a brace, eve'nin the structure as sofar type.

described, that is, comprising merely abackframe, the two side-frames hingedthereto as gates, and the ironing board'overlying the tops of' such gates, serves to hold the haclrfraine and at least one 'side frame ainst relative movement, and so mainns the whole structure squarely on the or, for a variety of useful purposes, such, nu instance, as to facilitate lifting the tapered end of the board to slip a skirt or o the board on the two side-frames in sett 5 upthe structure for ironing, to facilicollapsing the side-frames, one after ether tubular garment over and onto the 21rd, to facilitate correct initial mounting These auxiliary elementsinclude-diagonal l braces 24 on. the rear? of backdranie 9, be-

tween uprightsslzand-slats l-and 15, and: a third swingingzframe 1 or shelf member'k25 hingedly' connected to loweraslat 1512.1; 22,

as-shown in- FlgllIE'4J:

This auxiliary swinging. fram=e' 0r shelf member 25 4 ready for ironing; constitutes"a'atrue:shelf in a position-which is outof the:way;of*the1 worker at I the ironing'b'o'ardand is yet; so

located as to intercept the lower wportions of sheets and similarlarge: art-iclesubeing, ironed and .thus prevent such art-1cles -froni 1 dropping to and i being soiled: =o-n the-floor:

The useful purpose of'the diagonal braces 24, in'addition to their" function further torigidify' the" back frame-Elr and the: entire structure, will be described immediately: below in=connection Wlt-ll' 1aparticular reference to Figs. 5-and 6 showing,the-"entirestructure incompletely collap se d condition- Referringnow particularly to sand; Figs.

5' and-6, .and-in; orderto describe the man nor in which; allthevarious-parts of: the entire structure are compactly collapsed into a panel-like, substantiallyflatiand-rthin,

uprightwallqnember torestuor lean/against a room wall oft-he: laundry, with ther main or back frame: 9 overlying: precisely. the satneareaofthe floor as when-all parts were extended as in 1 for ironing, .at-

tention is directed first to the: provision :on b'aclr-frarne-Q of a=plurality ofhoolc-shaped devices 27 anchored in' uprights 12, thev up aerones of which ma. beturnedaas shown- 1 in broken lineswin'Fig: 6 andto aprojection 30011 the side-frame 7 'tothe' right-oh Fig. 5, and a recess S1 in the board 16 asshown in Fig.2, said projectionand recess to interlock when the partsare: collapsed asshown in Fig; 6 a-nd tie-hereinafter'described.

It willb'e seenfrom Figs; 5 and Gthat the board as finally collapsed is. only asthickat any point as the Width of. an upright 12; plus the-thicknessofboard l6, and: that the various hinge-dly connecte parts are folded in towardback-frameQ in acertain order facilitating a quiclr and convenient series of collapsing operations. Thus; in collapsing" the structure, the "first step, after removing the board fromathezto'ps offside-g with the structure extended frames 7, is to lift shelf until the same is disposed vertically above slat 15 and flush with such slat. As the shelf is performing its upward swing toward the position last mentioned, the side-frame 7 to the left of Fig. 1 is swung in to lie close against and to overlap the up-swung shelf. The shelf and the side-frame last mentioned will now have no tendency to drop away from their collapsed positions, as the shelf is squarely above bottom slat. 15, and the in-swung sideframe has its foot-portion 11 inv slight frictional contact with the floor. Next, the brace 23 is struck in at its center where its 1 two link members are pivotally connected,

and the side-frame 7 to the right of Fig. 1 is swung in parallel and flush with the other side-frame previously swung in. Finally, upper devices 27 having been upturned as indicated in dotted lines in 6, board 16 is arranged on lower device 27 to cause projection 30 to engage recess 31; whereupon upper devices 27 are down turned to lock the board in position. It will. further be seen that back-frame 9, as here preferably constructed, may be de scribed as a shallow box-like or crate-like structure, resting on its own foundation at all times, directly on the floor; and by its box-like nature, being adapted to completely house all swinging parts of the structure when the structure is to be collapsed.

The diagonal braces 24 have considerable usefulness in the structure as collapsed, as they cooperate directly with the ironing board (when mounted in the devices 27 to positively hold the in-swung elements in collapsed condition as described, avoiding any undue strains on the hinges which mount shelf 25 on bottom slat 15 of backframe 9.

As here shown, upper slat 1 1 of backframe 9 is provided with a cut-out portion as indicated at 28, to provide a handle 29 which may be convenient in shifting the structure in the laundry whenever deemed desirable.

It will be seen that an exceedingly sturdy and rigid, yet simple and light structure is provided, and one having the outstanding advantage, among the others hereinabove mentioned, of being adapted to be collapsed into very small compass, with the collapsing and extending operations of maximum ease and quickness; and at all times the backframe, which means the entire structure when collapsed, may remain in a fixed position close against a wall of the laundry.

I claim:

1. An improved ironing board structure including, in combination, a back-frame to rest on the floor, a pair of gates hingedly connected thereto and lying wholly to one side of the back-frame and adapted to be folded back close against the back-frame, said gates having floor contacting foot-portions when swung to extend angularly away from the back-frame and substantially parallel to each other, an ironing board adapted to rest on the tops of the gates when thus extended, and supporting means for the ironing board mounted on the back-frame and adapted to receive the iron board after the gates are folded back against the back frame, such supporting means being adapted to hold the ironing board parallel with the back-frame and with the folded back gates to retain the latter collapsed against the back-frame; substantially as described.

2. In an ironing board structure, the combination of hingedly connected back and sideframes all having floor contacting portions whereby the side-frames may be extended in substantially parallel relation away from the back-frame, an ironing board adapted to rest on the side-frames when the latter are extended, quick detachable means carried by the ironing board and the side-frame for locking the parts in, ironing position, and an auxiliary bracing means between one side-frame and the back-frame, the other side-frame having an upstanding part at a point removed from the back-frame for solely supporting the overlying end of the ironing board, whereby that end of the ironing board may be used conveniently for ironing bellied parts of articles to be ironed and may be lifted from over its underlying side-frame without causing relative movement between the other side-frame and the back-frame and to permit a skirt or similar tubular article to be slipped over and on to the ironing board; substantially as described.

3. In an ironing board structure, the combination of a back-frame and a pair of side frames, each of the side-frames being hinged along one vertical edge to the back;- frame near a vertical edge of the latter, and such side-frames being of such widths that they are also adapted to be folded in toward each other to lie parallel against the backframe, a self member hingedly connected to the back-frame intermediate the tops and bottoms of the side-frames and between the hinged connections of the side-frames to the back-frame, such hinged connections being so located that the shelf member and the side frames may be folded back against the back-frame in overlap-ping relation, and supporting devices carried by the back frame and adapted to receive the ironing board and retain the latter with its fiat vertical and overlying the folded-in shelf member and side-frames; substantially as described.

HENRY CLAY ARMSTRONG. 

